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Summary

Hurt and upset when she finds herself "dis-invited" to her parents' annual Christmas bash, Lorelai (Lauren Graham) is frantic when she hears that her father Richard (Edward Herrmann) has collapsed at the party. Luke (Scott Patterson) rushes Lorelai to the hospital where Richard's close call forces everyone to confront long-standing resentments and misunderstandings.

Plot

Part II of a Gilmore Girls Christmas opens with Lorelei and Rory avoiding each other while helping out at the rehearsals for the town's Christmas pageant. Tensions are apparently still running way high after Rory's impromptu sleepover with Dean. The next day, Rory and Lane talk, and Rory fills Lane in on the Dean details, including his new nickname of Narcolepsy Boy. She's bummed that everything seemed platinum until they nodded off that fateful night. Rory also tells Lane about buying Dean Kafka's The Metamorphosis. Lane thinks this is a totally lame Christmas gift and urges her to get something that says, "I dig you, baby." Later at the inn, Lorelai has a run-in with her mother about Christmas dinner. It seems that Lorelai is into going; however, she can't come until eight and cocktails are at six. When she balks at leaving work early, Emily tells her not to come and just send Rory. It seems Mom is still mad about the way Lorelai went off on her when she got upset that Rory didn't come home.

Rory heads off to the party all by her lonesome, leaving Lorelei alone to order pizza in and get extremely restless. When her pizza doesn't come on time, she wanders off into town to Luke's. Meanwhile, at Grandma and Grandpa's, Rory is dining with the adults. Grandpa Richard is stressing out with his work buddy over some power shifting in his company. Not able to let it go, he decides to try to get to the bottom of things by phoning London at that very minute. He is unable to find anything out, so he returns to the table still mega-stressed. As the dinner commences, he complains of being warm and goes to lower the thermostat while Emily tells a tall tale about Lorelei's absence, she's sick, much to Rory's amazement. The discomfort of that ends as Richard keels over from an apparent heart attack. Rory leaves her Mom a message on her cell phone just as Lorelai is preparing to consume a special Santa burger that Luke has so lovingly made for her. Lorelai gets the message and wigs out so badly that Luke has to announce an impromptu closing of the diner so he can drive Lorelei to the hospital.

When they finally get to the hospital, Emily has had a full-on meltdown, not being in control of the scene, not knowing what's going on while Richard is receiving care behind closed doors. At one point, she even excuses herself and goes off to call Lorelai once at her home and leave a message. Just as she's being beyond obstinate with a desk clerk, Lorelai swoops in to help save the day. Her Mom is impressed with how she defused an explosive situation and goes off to secure her hubby a first-rate room with a view. Luke comforts Lorelai at the hospital, even though he hates hospitals and sick people. He starts to look all green at one point and Lorelai says she thinks he should go home because he doesn't look like his "good" normal self. This piques his interest and he wants to know how good he usually looks.

While Emily and Rory go in to see Richard, as he lies recuperating, Lorelai does anything but; she is avoiding the situation at all costs. She doesn't want to see her Dad lying in a bed, suffering and weak. Scared she'll lose him just when she's found him again. She does finally go in, after Emily and Richard share a tender moment, and just as father and daughter lock eyes but before they can speak, doctors rustle into the room to issue instructions. Turns out he's going to be just fine, but he'll have to change his lifestyle. It was angina, not a full-on heart attack. Later, Lorelai tells Rory that Dean had visited their house earlier and she forgave Dean and realized, after he reassured her, that she didn't have to worry about him derailing any of Rory's plans for Harvard (or life for that matter) and he would never hurt her. Lorelai knows that he's a good kid and urges Rory to go home with Luke and call Dean and be all mushy with him. Lorelai is going to stay and offer to help her Mother, even though Emily needs help from no one. Emily is actually glad to have the company and they both go down to the cafeteria to get something to eat, a truce clearly having been called. The next day, Lorelai gives Luke a new blue ballcap to thank him for his help. They watch the Christmas processional rehearsal together and Lorelai comments that she can't imagine living anywhere else. She also tells Luke that he looks good in his new cap and of course, he wants to know how good.

Quotes

“You're idiots. Both of you”

—Emily to Luke

Trivia

Emily and Luke have an emotional conversation.

Emily asks Luke what's going on between him and Lorelai, to which he responds they're friends and that's it.